Not grey, but sooty, and even occasionally shadowed in black. The similarly dark material, another side to the Holocaust ruminations, is given the seriousness that such a piece would suggest.

And from the likes of the cast — Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, Natasha Lyonne — one might think that there must be something important to tell. Apart from the fact that none of the actors actually remain on the screen for prolonged periods of time, switching to and from at a plotting anticipatory rate, only the unknowns provide sufficient persuasiveness from their unrecognized status. (David Arquette, and Buscemi, despite their talents as actors, are not alone in unnecessarily calling unneeded attention to themselves.) Herein, the Jews are forced to participate in the rounding-up and caging of other Jews in the concentration camp crematoriums for but little extended time in their own lives. This all leads up to an attempted putsch, thwarted in part due to the survival of a young girl in the gas chambers. Tim Blake Nelson writes and directs, using his own play as source material. The Grey Zone ineffectively rids itself of the theatrical rhythm and hinge, unsuccessfully staging dialogue in the form of questions being used to answer questions, à la David Mamet. Contrarily, Nelson lacks the polish, the language, the formality and the game that make Mamet’s banter pieces the crisp, intelligent constructions that they are.